The Swansea City caretaker manager, Alan Curtis, has received backing from within his squad to steer the team to safety over the remainder of the campaign should the Welsh club’s search for a long-term successor to Garry Monk drag on into the new year.

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Curtis will oversee Saturday’s trip to Manchester United having taken five points from his four games in charge to date, keeping three clean sheets in the process. While the 61-year-old has indicated there is a need for “a different voice” to inspire the players, he would be willing to fill in for the remainder of the campaign if Jenkins decided his principal target would not be available until the summer.

“It has to be the right person and maybe that’s why there have been a few delays,” Curtis said. “Maybe managers are looking at our precarious position at the moment and waiting to see how the next few results go. Hopefully, if we can keep getting results, one or two might come forward.”

His players, encouraged by a three-match unbeaten run that has edged them two points clear of the relegation zone, are offering the caretaker manager their backing as they seek to clamber away from trouble. “You can see from the results at the moment it’s not affecting us,” said the midfielder Jack Cork. “Curt and Dave [Adams, the academy head of coaching, who is assisting Curtis] have done a good job coming in. They’ve done really well and, if we needed them to be there for the rest of the season, I’m sure they’d do a good job.

“We just have to get on with things. No one’s kicking off or sulking. You know football just deals you these hands sometimes. We’ve played well at times, played badly at others. Sometimes we’ve got the result we wanted but a lot of the time we haven’t. It’s the way the game goes sometimes but we had some good results over this period and hopefully it’s enough for us to kick on. Three games without a loss is a good start: five points from three at a time where our manager has left I think shows we’ve turned a corner.”

Curtis has been more pragmatic with his approach in the recent games against West Bromwich Albion and Palace, making eight changes for the fixture at Selhurst Park and setting his side up to defend ruggedly. The draw was useful reward for a stubborn display, inspired by the performance of the captain, Ashley Williams, at centre-half, with the switch from the team’s trademark swashbuckling style born of their predicament.

“When you see yourself drop into the relegation zone it’s a horrible feeling,” Cork added. “It gets to you. We’ve had a few talks and we’ve really thought about it and what we need to do to get out of this mess. You can see from the last three or four performances that we can play well and we can play dirty and do what it takes to get a result. We’re playing for each other and the team. We’ve got a fighting spirit back. We dug in and dealt with it.

“Ashley Williams was superb at Palace. He’s loud, you can hear him talk everyone through it and you need that. You need your captain to drive you on and inspire you. The last month he’s been bang on and the rock at the back you need. He’s not afraid to give you an earful but I like that; you need that sometimes to get you going. We’ve got three clean sheets in a row and, if you want to get out of trouble, that’s a great base. If we’re a team that’s not going to concede, then you give your attackers that chance of winning games. If we carry on like that, we’ll be fine.”